The present invention relates to a closing device, for use in an article of furniture having furniture components including a furniture body and a drawer slidable in opposite directions into and out of the furniture body, for moving the drawer to a fully inserted position within the furniture body. The closing device includes a pin member adapted to be fixedly mounted on one of the furniture components, and a tiltable member adapted to be guided on a housing mounted on the other of the furniture components for displacement relative thereto in opposite directions. The tiltable member is supported by a slide. A spring acts on the slide and causes rectilinear displacement of the slide and the tiltable member. Thereby, when the pin member and the tiltable member are in engagement, the drawer is used to move in a direction inwardly of the furniture body to the fully inserted position. The tiltable member has therein a slot. The pin member extends into the slot when the tiltable member is positioned in its position for rectilinear movement. Engagement between the pin member and the tiltable member is released when the tiltable member is in a tilted position thereof.
Modern drawers normally are provided with pull-out guide assemblies on each of opposite sides of the drawer. Each such pull-out guide assembly includes a supporting rail on the furniture body and a pull-out rail on the drawer. The pull-out guide assemblies are designed to ensure that the movement of the drawer into and out of the furniture body will be easy and as smooth as possible. Conventionally rollers, balls or slides are provided for transmitting the load of the drawer from the pull-out rails to the supporting rails of the furniture body. Such arrangements are adapted to the requirements of a particular drawer with respect to smoothness of operation and loading capacity.
It has been found that a drawer that has been moved to a closed position sometimes will not be in its fully closed rear end position, i.e. fully inserted into the furniture body, such that a front plate or an end of the drawer projects from the furniture body. As a result it is possible for persons to bump against the front of the drawer, and consequently damage to the drawer or injury of such persons may occur. Projection of the front plate of the drawer from the front of the furniture body may occur when the drawer has been pushed into the furniture body without care or not to the full extent. Also when the drawer has been pushed into the furniture body with too much energy, the drawer may again roll forwardly or rebound because of such excessive energy.
A closing device for a drawer is disclosed in GB-PS 1 117 071 wherein there is provided a tilting member or part which is movable between two end positions. The tilting member is acted upon by a coil spring and thereby is urged into respective end positions after having moved past a dead center position. The tilting member is fastened to a side wall of the furniture body, and the drawer is provided with the driving pin member which is inserted into a notch or slot in the tilting member during an end portion of the path of movement of the drawer. The driving pin member then moves the tilting member past the dead center position, whereupon the tilting member itself pulls the driving pin member and thus the drawer toward the rear of the furniture body under the action of the coil spring.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,207,781 is disclosed a closing device which can pull a drawer over a longer distance into an article of furniture. This closing device also employs a tilting member, but such tilting member not only tilts but travels on a guide track having a rectilinear rear portion. A similar device is shown in WO-A1-92/00027.
While ordinary functioning of such a closing device is very good, it can occur that, when the supporting rails and the pull-out rails are not exactly positioned with respect to each other, the pin member does not always engage precisely into the slot of the tilting member. This problem especially arises when the pull-out guide assembly features an intermediate rail positioned between the pull-out rail and the supporting rail.